1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to casts used for orthopedics and other fields of medicine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a woven material used to build a cast around a part of the body of a human or other animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional casts typically depend upon skilled personnel, such as physicians, manually building a cast to protect and align a part of the body of a human or other animal containing a fractured bone, thereby facilitating proper fusion of the fractured bone. A common method for building casts involves applying a sheep skin cloth, stockinette, or equivalent (collectively, xe2x80x9cstockinettexe2x80x9d) in the area around the fractured bone (xe2x80x9cdesired areaxe2x80x9d), and iterations of impregnating swaths of cloth, usually cotton, with a hardening agent, such as hardening latex or a synthetic resin (collectively, xe2x80x9chardening agentxe2x80x9d), and of layering the swaths of cloth, before the swaths harden, around the stockinette. The hardening of the hardening agent (originally Plaster of Paris, but today synthetic resins are more commonly used) permeating the layered swaths transforms the layered swaths into a cast. After each application of cloth swathing hardens, another layer is applied in similar fashion until the desired cast stiffness is obtained.
The traditional method of building a cast has several problems: First, personnel skilled in cast-making are required, especially in creating the edges of a cast, spacing the spirals of swathing, judging the number of layers necessary for protection of the bone fusion process, and abrading the surface of each successive layer to eliminate gaps between layers. This is a time-consuming, difficult process. Second, traditional casts do not xe2x80x9cbreathexe2x80x9d very well, i.e., the hardened cast does not allow the free exchange of air between the skin surface under the cast and the atmosphere. Poor cast breathing can lead to itchy or even infected skin conditions. Third, casts with irregular surfaces can cause blistering, and worse, improper fusion of bones. Fourth, traditional casts are radio-opaque, that is, X-rays cannot penetrate a traditional cast, which prevents X-ray imaging through the cast. The inability to use X-ray imaging deprives the treating physician of information about healing of bone fractures. Fifth, traditional casts can not be subjected to prolonged contact with water, so bathing or showering by the cast-wearer becomes problematic.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,252, granted to Laico, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,769, granted to Prahl, disclose methods and apparatus for creating improved cast edges. U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,487, granted to Freeman, et al., discloses an orthopedic casting tape, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,241 discloses an orthopedic casting band. The related art represented by these patents are incremental improvements in the art of casting, but all required skilled personnel to avoid the problems of a weak cast, poor edges and breathing, and irregular surfaces. There has long been a need for a simpler method of cast building, especially one that did not require highly skilled personnel, created comfortable cast edges, permitted breathing, and minimized irregularities in cast construction.
The hybrid-mesh cast sleeve invention comprises a tubular mesh, or xe2x80x9csleevexe2x80x9d, woven of an elastic yarn and an impregnable yarn. The hybrid-mesh cast sleeve is used with a hardening agent to produce a cast for orthopedics and other fields of medicine. Although the term xe2x80x9csleevexe2x80x9d is used, the hybrid-mesh cast sleeve invention can be made in various diameters for use on parts of the body other than an arm or leg. The hybrid-mesh cast sleeve can also be broadly used on animals, especially domesticated animals. A cast using the hybrid-mesh cast sleeve can be built by personnel without specialized training in using traditional xe2x80x9cwrappingxe2x80x9d methods of cast construction, and the cast created is a breathable cast with comfortable cast edges and minimal cast irregularities.